>Click here to read the first chapter of Debbie Fuller Thomas’s Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon, a book about family, trust, and healing.

Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon Discussion Questions
1. How does Andie’s physical description of the Blue Moon Drive-in reflect the spiritual lives of Marty and Andie as the story begins?

2. Marty says the drive-in is ‘family friendly’? Do you find this ironic, and why or why not? What are the comparisons between the future of drive-in theaters and the traditional family unit?

3. Marty seems eager to ‘replace’ Ginger but Andie isn’t eager to ‘replace’ her parents with Marty. What is the difference? In what ways does Marty make Andie feel that she wants her to replace Ginger?

4. Why was it so important to Marty to open a bakery? What does it represent to her, and how does it compare to her father’s desire to be an artist? What do Coconut Dandies represent to Winnie, and how does Marty’s baking contribute to her need for constant grazing?

5. How would you rate Marty’s parenting skills with respect to Deja? Compare it to the relationship between her father and her brother. How do you think Deja will ultimately turn out, and what will she be doing after high school (assuming she graduates)?

6. Marty has a mini-breakdown and ends up many miles from home. Contrast the reasons she left with the reasons she went back. What was the outcome? Did anything change for Marty? Continue reading / Leave a comment…

>By Author Tricia Goyer

As a writer of historical fiction, I like to consider myself a translator of sorts. It’s my job to take the events of the past and make them understandable to today’s reader. No … more than that … to make history come alive and make the past an enjoyable place to visit.

As a translator I must balance the core values and beliefs of a people in the past with the felt needs of today’s reader.

If you write historical fiction you too are a translator. The question is … how much will you compromise the past to connect today?

Compromise
The compromise doesn’t mean changing the facts, but rather it means making sure our writing style and delivery appeals to today’s reader.

Of course, we must also look at our “facts” and consider them from two different points of view.

For example, consider the Communists and Nazi regimes. The readers today, who have had even a basic history education, understand these two systems. Yet, how we see both is very different than someone who lived in countries influenced by both.

In my Spanish Civil War books I balanced the way communism was viewed by an unemployed American in 1936 with how readers look at it today. To a man in 1936, communism looked ideal. It gave a voice to common man and provided food and honor to men out of work. Still, I also created scenes that showed some of its many weaknesses—as known by today’s reader. Continue reading / Leave a comment…